Confederate Flag Group Charged Under Questionable Law

By: Katrina Manning | October 15, 2015

A group of 15 members who support the Confederate flag were formally charged on terror charges after a July confrontation with a black family that was celebrating a child's birthday in Georgia.

Douglas County District Attorney Brian Fortner said members of the “Respect the Flag” group violated the state’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act and made terroristic threats when their caravan of vehicles bearing the rebel flag drove past a neighborhood party.

Fortner said “We do want to say that we respect the rights of all citizens to exercise their First Amendment right, but we’re going to require them when they’re doing that to respect the right of all of the citizens to feel safe." The indictment was handed up on Friday. In addition, two members of the group with battery for a separate incident that occurred at a gas station on the same day.

Video of the Confederate convoy shows numerous pickup trucks, adorned with several large American and Confederate flags forming a caravan and driving into a neighborhood where a birthday party was being held for a child.

Levi Bush, who was part of the procession, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in July that the motorcade was making its way back from a nearby event when it drove through the area. Kayla Norton, another member of the group, said that party-goers began throwing objects at the trucks and making threats.

Douglasville Police Department said in a statement, “Officers on scene were given conflicting statements as to what led up to the confrontation. We do not have any evidence of any shots fired nor were there any reports of a physical altercation taking place.”

The indictment says the group threatened “to commit a crime of violence to persons attending a party” with the “purpose of terrorizing those individuals and in reckless disregard for the risk of causing such terror.” Although the indictment does not detail what participants did to achieve terror.